Of the joy of ‘home food’ versus that of ‘eating out’ -- II
   Date :12-May-2024

home food 
 
 
 
 
 
Loud Thinking - Vijay Phanshikar
 
 
 
After completing a successful business round trip in several Indian cities as well as a couple of foreign countries, the businessman felt very gratified that after nearly a month, he would eat ‘Daal Roti’ cooked by his wife at home. ‘Daal Roti’ tasted the most delicious and genuinely fulfilling, he said to a group of friends to went calling on him. “All these weeks, I stayed at five-star and luxury hotels and ate the cuisine on offer there. Yet, the ‘Daal Roti’ was better than all that. ‘Ghar kaa khaana’, after all’, ” he said with a chuckle.
 
THIS anecdote speaks volumes about ‘home food’. It also symbolises a universal experience of everybody. For, even the most seasoned eat-outers also start craving for home food after eating out for days. The loud-thinker also knows quite many people who return home from banquets in starred hotels and eat ‘Daal Roti’ at home. He also knows many others who eat at home before going to attend parties and dinners in hotels and clubs etc. Sportspeople who are required to travel a lot around the year and compulsorily eat out in hotels etc during tournaments away from their home towns also crave for home food. “Nothing in the world compares with the home food -- cooked by mother or sister or sister-in-law or wife”, a celebrated sportsperson had said in a personal conversation with the loud-thinker. y This shows how home food has always won the contest against foods in starred hotels and elite clubs and expensive restaurants -- not just in India but also the world over.
 
Despite this, eating out appears to have become fashionable in our society these days -- with countless numbers of people eating out almost on a daily basis. Let us leave out those who have to eat out as a compulsion of their respective situations. Yet, the numbers of people resorting to eating out just for the heck of it or fun are growing almost every day. It is unfortunate that those who get addicted to eating out do not realise that they are causing a near-permanent damage to their personal health as well as the family values. Of course, there are people who learn their lessons right and start avoiding eating out assiduously. One such person -- belonging to a very well-to-do family and himself making a lot of money in business -- has a very interesting story to share: “I used to spend a lot of money eating out almost on a daily basis. I would feel rather slighted if on some day I had to eat at home. So, I would search for companions who could join me eating out. One day, upon my wife’s prodding, I sat down to calculate the money I was spending every month on eating out.
 
Iwas shell-shocked. That much money would make a middle class family run its home say for at least two full months. That opened my eyes. I started changing my habit decisively. Now, I can say with much pride that I am a happier person -- saving a lot of money, and also saving my heath from getting ruined due to eating the spicy and oily stuff day in and day out”, a successful businessman confided with the loud-thinker, insisting that his health has improved beyond his own imagination, and the personal sense of happiness has got elevated beyond his ability to describe it. By choice, the loud-thinker enjoys home food more than anything else (which includes sweets, too). In today’s environment, a complete blocking out of eating out may not be possible. Yet, the attempt of sane people should be mainly to understand the paradigm of home food against eating out. The loud-thinker can assure them that the quality of their lives would improve dramatically.